Pennymuir | |
---|---|
Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK | |
Location in the Scottish Borders | |
Coordinates | 55°25′05″N2°23′18″W / 55.4181°N 2.3882°W |
Grid reference | NT7514 |
The Pennymuir Roman camps are situated southeast of Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, near the Anglo-Scottish border, in the former Roxburghshire. The site, alongside the course of the Roman road known as Dere Street, consists of the remains of four Roman temporary camps, a linear earthwork and an area of rig. The site is also sometimes referred to as the Towford camps.
The camps at Pennymuir lie on rough moorland in the Cheviot Hills beside Dere Street, a short distance north of Tow Ford where the Roman road crossed the Kale Water. [1] Camps A and B are considered amongst the best preserved Roman camps in Scotland. [2] These two were first recorded in 1774 by William Roy. [2]
The Pennymuir camps lie about 7 kilometres northwest of the Roman camps and fortlets at Chew Green on the English side of the Anglo-Scottish border and are located in the vicinity of Woden Law hillfort. [3] [4]
Camp A (grid reference NT754139 ) is the largest camp in the group. [2] It lies close to the west side of Dere Street on a platform of moderately even ground. [2] Its south end lies on the edge of a small, dry gully. [2] It is approximately rectangular in shape, and measures 520 metres from north to south by 343 metres east to west and encloses almost 18 hectares. [2] Entrance gaps are visible on all four sides, with two visible on the west side. [2] The ramparts of the camp measure up to 4.6 metres wide and 1.2 metres high, with the ditch some 4.6 metres wide and up to 1.2 metres deep in places. [2]
Camp B (grid reference NT756138 ) lies within the southeast portion of camp A, and utilises part of the east and south defences of camp A. [5] It is the later of the two camps. [5] It has a rectangular shape, and measures 300 metres from north to south by 130 metres east to west and encloses almost 4 hectares. [5] Entrance gaps are visible on the west (two), north and east sides. [5] The northward gate on the west side had been narrowed at a later date, which may be the result of a later re-occupation of the camp. [5]
Camp C (grid reference NT756144 ) is situated to the north-east of camps A and B on the east side of Dere Street and astride the modern road from Pennymuir to Hownam. [6] It has been partially obliterated by drainage and a plantation. [6] The camp is a parallelogram in shape, and measures 280 metres from northwest to southeast by 185 metres, and encloses 5.1 hectares. [6] The only visible part is the west side, south of the Pennymuir road, where it is traceable for 50 metres as a slight turf bank, some 2 metres wide and 20 centimetres high. [6]
A probable fourth camp (grid reference NT757139 ) has been found on air photographs on the east side of Dere Street opposite camp A. [7] Only part of the camp has been traced, measuring 192 metres from north to south by at least 120 metres, suggesting that it enclosed at least 2.3 hectares. [7] The north and east sides (including the northeast corner) are traceable as a low spread turf bank 5 metres wide and 20 centimetres high. [7] The south and west sides have been obliterated by former cultivation and by recent drainage ditches. [7]
The remains of a later farmstead are situated immediately to the east of the road between the camps, and comprises at least two buildings and five enclosures. [8] Traces of rig and furrow cultivation lie within the enclosures. [9]
There is also a linear earthwork which can be seen within camp A running north from about 20 metres northeast of the southwest corner of the camp. [10] It probably functioned as a later boundary. [10]
Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge and continuing beyond into what is now Scotland, later at least as far as the Antonine Wall. It was the Romans' major route for communications and supplies to the north and to Scotland. Portions of its route are still followed by modern roads, including the A1(M), the B6275 road through Piercebridge, where Dere Street crosses the River Tees, and the A68 north of Corbridge in Northumberland.
Edin's Hall Broch is a 2nd-century broch near Duns in the Borders of Scotland. It is one of very few brochs found in southern Scotland. It is roughly 28 metres in diameter.
Ythan Wells, also known as Glenmailen, is the site of a Roman military camp, near the farm of Glenmellan, 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) east of the village of Ythanwells in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site is a designated scheduled monument.
Habitancum was an ancient Roman fort (castrum) located at Risingham, Northumberland, England. The fort was one of series of built along the extension of Dere Street, a Roman road running from York to Corbridge and onwards to Melrose, in Scotland.
An Caisteal is a hill fort located on the island of Coll. This island is one of the islands which make up the Inner Hebrides located on the west coast of Scotland. The fort is located at grid reference NM17185815. Located 1,200 yards (1.1 km) to the north-east of An Caisteal is Dùn Foulag. Dùn Foulag, located at grid reference NM17505908, was once thought to be a dun, though it is now considered to be only a naturally rocky knoll.
Milecastle 20 (Halton Shields) was one of the milecastles on Hadrian's Wall (grid reference NZ01886868). It is situated in the hamlet of Halton Shields, and was excavated in 1935. There is no visible trace of the milecastle above ground.
Buckland Rings is the site of an Iron Age hill fort in the town of Lymington, Hampshire. Today, the mounds and dykes around the outside which once constituted its defences are still clearly visible, although the outer bank lies under the road on the west side, and on the south-east it is nearly ploughed-out. Excavations of the inner and middle ramparts in 1935 revealed that they were of wall-and-fill construction, retained at the front by upright timber beams and walls of cut and laid turf. The entrance, which lies on the east side, was also excavated revealing a long entrance passage and the postholes for a pair of stout gateposts. The site was bought by Hampshire County Council in 1989 to ensure its preservation, and it is open to the public from the A337 road onto which part of it faces.
Ladle Hill is a 10.5-hectare (26-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Kingsclere in Hampshire. It is also a Scheduled Monument.
Scratchbury Camp is the site of an Iron Age univallate hillfort on Scratchbury Hill, overlooking the Wylye valley about 1 km northeast of the village of Norton Bavant in Wiltshire, England. The fort covers an area of 37 acres (15 ha) and occupies the summit of the hill on the edge of Salisbury Plain, with its four-sided shape largely following the natural contours of the hill.
Bincknoll Castle, or Bincknoll Camp, is the site of a possible Iron Age univallate hillfort in Wiltshire, England.
Chiselbury is the site of an Iron Age univallate hillfort in Wiltshire, England. The hillfort is sub-circular in plan, and encloses an area of approximately 10.5 acres (460,000 sq ft). It is defined by an earthen rampart up to 3.6 metres (12 ft) in height and an external ditch, up to a maximum of 1.6 metres (5.2 ft) in depth. A gap in the south-eastern side of the rampart, and a corresponding causeway across the ditch, is thought to be the original entrance and is associated with a small D-shaped embanked enclosure, which is apparently visible on aerial photographs. Although the enclosure has subsequently been degraded by ploughing, it is still apparent as a series of low earthworks.
Muiryfold was one of the Roman fortifications built by Septimius Severus in northern Caledonia. The site is located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) east of Keith in Moray.
Membury Camp, or Membury Fort, is the site of an Iron Age hill fort located on the borders of Wiltshire and Berkshire,. The site encompasses 14 hectares, and is situated in the south-western corner of a small plateau. The circular earthworks are completely shrouded in trees and inside the walls it is mostly arable farmland. To the northeast, in the Berkshire segment, the camp is totally wooded by a small copse, Walls Copse, which covers a quarter of the site. To the north and east the adjoining ground is flat, but to the south and west it falls away steeply, providing a natural defence. The camp consists of a single ditch with banks on either side and encloses and area measuring 390m by 490m. A gap in the east with inturning flanks is probably an original entrance though it is mutilated and overgrown. Other gaps in the banks appear to be more modern. A possible hut circle is visible as a cropmark situated at the south end of the hill fort. The east side of the earthwork has been partly destroyed by the construction of a wartime airfield, RAF Membury. The site has not been excavated but a number of prehistoric finds have been found in the vicinity. It is a scheduled ancient monument no. 228970 There have been several collections of pottery found, in 1977, 1980 and 1987 Other significant finds have also included for flint artefacts from the mesolithic era, and flint tools from the neolithic era, prior to the Iron Age.
Coxall Knoll is a hill lying on the boundary of Shropshire and Herefordshire, England; it is near Bucknell in Shropshire and Buckton and Coxall in Herefordshire. On the summit is an Iron Age hillfort, a scheduled monument.
Knowlton Circles are a complex of henges and earthworks in Knowlton, Dorset, England. The henge enclosing Knowlton Church is the best known and best preserved, but there are at least two other henges in the vicinity as well as numerous round barrows.
Castle Rings is a univallate hill fort in the parish of Donhead St Mary in Wiltshire, England. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Castle Rings has been dated to the Iron Age and is at an altitude of 228 metres (748 ft) upon Upper Greensand sandstone beds. The bulk of the fort enclosure lies within the boundaries of Donhead St Mary parish but some of the outlying earthworks are in the neighbouring Sedgehill and Semley parish. In the mid-1980s a metal detectorist unearthed a hoard of stater coins of the Durotriges tribe within the hill fort.
Broch of Inshlampie is an Iron Age broch in Scotland.
Thomshill, located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of Elgin in Moray, Scotland, is the site of an excavated rectilinear enclosure that has been interpreted as a possible Roman military camp or fort. The enclosure covers an area of approximately 3.25 hectares and is situated at a height of 72 metres (236 ft) above ordnance datum.
Featherwood Roman Camps are neighbouring archaeological sites in Northumberland, England, 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Featherwood and about 3 miles (5 km) east of Byrness. The remains of two Roman camps, near Dere Street, are scheduled monuments.
Brandon Camp is an archaeological site, about 1 mile south of Leintwardine, in Herefordshire. England. It is a hillfort of the Iron Age, which later became a Roman fort. The site is a scheduled monument.